Shakespeare and His Times

1. Shakespeare and His Times 1564 - 1616 Baptised 26th of April Died 23rd of April

2. He gave us a lot of new words!If he couldn’t find one that suited him, he created one that would! • Addiction • Assassination • Bedazzled • Cold-Blooded • Belongings • Eventful • Eyeball • Fashionable • Manager • New-Fangled • Swagger • Scuffle • Uncomfortable

3. The Greatest Writer in the English Language Born in Stratford-Upon-Avon Wrote 154 Sonnets 36 plays Several other poems and co-written plays

4. Even his gravestone holds a curse: Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, To digg the dvstencloasedheare. Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones, And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.[ Modern Translation: Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he who moves my bone.s

5. Elizabethan England • Queen Elizabeth I, a great supporter of the arts. • If not for her we would probably not have these fabulous plays and poems by Shakespeare.

6. The Globe *Built in 1599 *Burned down, there’s now a replica of it in London *Shakespeare’s troupe played here

7. Groundlings: paid only a penny and stood in the “yard” • Galleries: a penny more would allow you to sit on the wooden benches, and even more would allow you to have a private box. • Stage • Trapdoor: had at least one big one, ghosts and demons would appear and disappear via these. • Hell: Area directly under the stage, concealed machinery and sound effects. • The “Heavens” : trapdoor here to lower mythological gods • Back Wall: 2-3 doors for actors to make entrances and exits • Balcony: for musicians to play before and during performances, also actors could act here (Balcony Scene from R&J) • Inner Stage: curtained inner stage, contained a smaller trap door known as “the grave” • Tiring House: backstage area where actors put on their makeup and costumes

8. Verse vs. Prose • Verse: written like a poem Ex: “Think not I love him, though I ask for him. Tis but a peevish boy; yet he talks well. But what care I for words? Yet words do well When he that speaks them pleases those that hear.” • Prose: written in paragraph form, like dialogue Ex: “There is none of my uncle’s marks upon you. He taught me how to know a man in love; in which cage of rushes I am sure you are not prisoner.”

9. Iambic Pentameter • 10 syllables per verse line • Dadumdadumdadumdadumdadum “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” U / U / U / U / U /

10. Speaking Shakespeare “Dark night, that from the eye his function takes, The ear more quick of apprehension makes; Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense, It pays the hearing double recompense. Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found; Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound.” *IAMBIC PENTAMETER –check to see if it fits *LONG sentences, break it up to make sense (Shakespeare has a lot of side notes in his speeches) *Do not have a break at the end of each verse unless there is a period or comma of some kind *Make comparisons clear (Shakespeare has lots of these)

11. “O my lord, m’ lord, I have been so affrighted. My lord, as I was sewing in my chamber, Lord Hamlet, his doublet all unbraced, No hat upon his head, his stockings fouled Ungartered and down-gyved to his ankle, Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, And with a look so piteous in purport, As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors,-he comes before me.” *Word you don’t know *IAMBIC PENTAMETER --how do you solve ones that don’t fit? *ok if it’s 11 instead of 10 *if less than 10 you can sometimes put an accent mark on a word and make it longer --there are 2 in this speech, which words are they?

12. Sonnets • 14 verses/lines • Last 2 are rhyming couplets • In Iambic Pentameter • You can write a sonnet too!  How careful was I, when I took my way, Each trifle under truest bars to thrust, That to my use it might unused stay From hands of falsehood, in sure wards of trust! But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are, Most worthy comfort, now my greatest grief, Thou best of dearest, and mine only care, Art left the prey of every vulgar theif. Thee have I not locked up in any chest, Save where thou art not, though I feel thou are, Within the gentle closure of my breast, From Whence at pleasure thou mayst come and part; And even thence thou wilt be stol’n, I fear, For truth proves thievish for a prize so dear.

13. Shakespeare Lexicon • Shakespeare Dictionary: specific definitions for words from Shakespeare’s text • Online: Alexander Schmidt’s Shakespeare Lexicon

14. Homework • http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/ • Pick a play that you could possibly be interested in. • Write a 5-6 sentence paragraph explained why you would want to look at doing a scene from it.